New Beginnings
by HowlingDarkness95
Summary: In which Tony tries to fix things, and Percy and Rhodey are Not Amused. Also, they share the frustration of dealing with an insufferable billionaire. *Sequel to Dynamic* *CACW SPOILERS*


**Hey guys! So this is the sequel to 'Dynamic', third installment in the series beginning with 'Closure'. This was written on a whim so, not sure if the quality is out there, but, do take a read! :)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or PJO. Obviously.**

* * *

Percy wanted to punch something. Or _someone_.

Of all the idiotic things to do, this one topped the chart. Including the mess of a birthday party that Tony Stark had back when he was dying. Of poisoning. And Percy wasn't even _there_ for that one.

The teen growled as he stalked through the Avengers facility, or what it used to be called since there weren't any Avengers now. It was bad enough that Tony had insisted on remaining a consultant – no matter how many times Ross tried to get him to do field work, it was bad enough that Rhodey couldn't be War Machine anymore (at least not in the next year or so unless he regrew his spine) and it was definitely bad enough that Vision was _gone_.

Tony had a field day trying to justify that one.

But this? This was the cherry on top of the cake.

Percy let himself into the lab, slamming a hand on the table so hard that Tony startled, the teen finding himself on the receiving end of a repulsor. When Tony realized who it was, he breathed out a sigh of relief and scowled, "Anyone ever taught you how to knock?"

"What are you planning Tony?"

The engineer rolled his eyes and turned back to his suit, tinkering with it. "No idea what you're talking about." He replied.

" _Don't_ bullshit _me_ Tony," Percy growled, "You know very well what I'm talking about. Why the hell are you doing this?"

Tony raised an eyebrow, "You mean meeting the UN? Well I've been avoiding them for the last few weeks or so… And since I need to settle the Accords as well, why not?" he shrugged, a careless smile playing on his lips.

Percy scowled, seeing right through his mask, "You _know_ that's not what I'm talking about." He said lowly.

Tony stopped, tension building up in his frame. "What else can I do Perce? You know it's the right thing to do –"

"Yeah well they get a pardon and then what? Continue to do whatever they like?" he demanded.

"Well what else can I do?" Tony yelled, throwing his arms out, "They _need_ a home Percy, not live on the run while the government hunts them down."

"And what about you huh?" the demigod challenged, "What happens to you when they come back?"

"I'll go back to the Tower of course." He said stubbornly.

"Why are you doing this Tony?" Percy asked tiredly, rubbing his face.

"The world needs the Avengers." The genius said simply, looking down at his suit, "Not Iron Man."

"You have got to be kidding me." Percy groaned, dragging a hand through his hair, "What in Hades are you talking about? Of course the world needs Iron Man –"

"No it doesn't!" Tony cut in, "It's _never_ needed Iron Man." The genius laughed, "I've only ever created more harm than good Percy. It's best if I just take myself out of the equation."

Percy gritted his teeth, "I don't believe that." He said harshly, drawing Tony's attention. "Don't be an _idiot_. You rewrote the entire Accords just for the Avengers, and they didn't even give you the time of the day. You funded everything, their tech, their gear, everything they used was from you. Tony, you are the backbone of the Avengers, you owe them nothing! If anything, _they_ owe _you_ for saving their lives Tony."

Percy pinched the bridge of his nose, knowing that Tony didn't really believe what he was saying. "How many times have you stayed up for days on end just to upgrade their gear? How many times did you come up with designs to make their gear better? Lighter? More durable? Things that saved their lives many times over! How many Tony?" he demanded.

Tony just looked away, his jaw clenching.

Percy reached out and placed a hand on Tony's shoulder, "You don't owe them anything Tony. _Nothing_."

Tony just smiled deprecatingly, "I owe them a home. Afterall, I took it away from them." He dropped the gauntlet and walked away, crossing the lab to reach the mini refrigerator on the other side. "Besides, the genius continued, "Iron Man is nothing more than a fuck up."

Percy gnashed his teeth together, "A fuck up?" he said incredulously, "You call Iron Man a fuck up?"

"Isn't it?" Tony sneered, "Everything I've done, I've only managed to make it worse. Even Vision said so – when Iron Man appeared, everything suddenly became ten times worse."

"Bullshit Tony." The demigod hissed, eyes flashing dangerously, "That's a correlation, not a causation."

"Doesn't change the fact that I created a super suit which invited every other baddie out there to come and find me. Literally in the Mandarin's case."

"Let's say you didn't create the suit, you stopped when you busted out of Afghanistan," Percy recited, pacing across the lab, "Who would stop Stane from getting to you? From getting to your arc reactor? He'd weaponize it and sell it, the world will fall into a higher form of war because you didn't manage to stop him."

The teen pinned Tony with a glare, "And Thor? If you hadn't created the suit, hadn't created Iron Man, Fury wouldn't have thought about the Avengers. There wouldn't be a reason to assume that Thor could be talked into becoming an ally – he'd be nothing more than an alien who attacked our people. And SHIELD would have easily killed Thor when he was just a mortal man. And then what? He doesn't stop Loki? And Loki still goes mad anyway?"

"Stop –"

"And since there isn't Iron Man, and there's no Thor," Percy continued, barreling over the genius as if he hadn't spoken, "There wouldn't have been a reason to bring the Avengers together, and if there was an invasion? Who would answer the call? Who would fight? The army? Maybe, but how long before they won? How many casualties and damage sustained before the army actually manages to win?"

"Those events aren't linked at all!" Tony shouted, "They aren't related, so there isn't any proof that we would lose just because I wasn't around. In fact," Tony whirled around, his eyes bright and wild, "Captain America would still have been retrieved from the ice, and the rest? Wilson, Barton, Natasha? They all existed before Iron Man ever did. That's half of the Avengers right there." The genius pointed out, "Who's to say that Fury wouldn't pick _them_ instead?"

Percy frowned, and Tony deflated, "Look, of all the times there was a major event that involved every Avenger, two of them was my fault." He murmured, "What's left of us – it isn't a team. We're not the Avengers."

"It wasn't your fault Tony." Percy said quietly, "The Accords weren't _your_ fault."

Tony just shrugged and took a big swig of the bottle of Coke he had brought out.

"Well," he said, after gulping down several mouthfuls, switching back to his faux happy tone, "I'll be moving back into my Tower anyway, so if you need to leave you can go."

Percy just glared at him, crossing his arms, bristling at the unintentional insult, "I said I wasn't going anywhere Stark, and I meant it."

* * *

Percy sat on the couch, watching the news with increasing ire. Every channel was playing the UN's decision to exonerate the 'Avengers' from their crimes, and it showed the Secretary of State, Thaddeus Ross, being convicted of his numerous crimes against Bruce Banner, the illegal imprisonment of the former Avengers in the super max prison without prior trial and every other dirty laundry that he had.

None of it showed Tony Stark's hand in the motion.

It was as if the UN had decided to suddenly become kind, and laud the Avengers for discovering the sinister plot of a mad man to use the Winter Soldier for his own purposes. It disgusted Percy to the core. He knew how many days Tony had spent pouring over the Accords, trying his best to reword it in a way that allowed the supers to have accountability, but also to ensure that they weren't being controlled like puppets on string. Percy knew how long Tony spent building up the argument against Ross, using his own experiences with the man (both new and old) and the experiences Bruce Banner had gone through to rally enough evidence to put the man away for a lifetime. Percy knew how hard Tony worked to get them free and it disgusted him that Tony wasn't even being credited in the slightest.

The teen felt a pang of regret for all the times he had judged the billionaire for his arrogance.

He didn't know how, but Tony had gotten the strength to convince the government that all charges were to be dropped against James Buchanan Barnes for his actions as the Winter Soldier, and for the war hero to receive the proper medical and psychiatric treatment.

It had been five months since Percy had come to the facility. Six since Siberia.

The teen wondered if Tony's motivations were out of guilt. Misplaced, but guilt nonetheless. Percy wasn't so stupid or naïve as to think that Tony was completely right, but he made a promise to stand by the man, and he _never_ went back on his promises. Tony had enough people leaving him without Percy adding to the list, and if the man ever did something stupid… Well, Percy could kick his ass.

Speaking of, he should really do that when Tony came back, the man was really an idiot sometimes, for all his acclaimed genius.

" _Mr Jackson, Mr Rhodes in on the line, should I put him through?"_ FRIDAY's voice suddenly broke the silence.

Percy jumped slightly, then replied, "Yeah sure, why is he calling?"

"Jackson, tell me that Tony didn't do what I think he did." Rhodey growled.

"Well hello to you too Rhodes." Percy grumbled, "What do you think he did?" he asked innocently.

"Do _not_ play this game with me Jackson." The colonel hissed, "Why did Tony fight for their exoneration?"

Percy sighed, "That's what I want to know too." He rubbed his forehead, "Look, Tony hasn't forgiven them, in case you were wondering, so I don't know why he would do this, but he said that the world needed the Avengers, and while I can understand that…" he trailed off.

"How long did he spend doing all of this?"

Percy worked his jaw for a moment, "A week, maybe more. I don't know, I tried to get him to sleep as often as I could, but he didn't always listen."

The colonel growled again and muttered a short "Thanks" before hanging up.

Percy rolled his eyes at his drama but didn't deny the worry within him. The only good thing about the whole drama was the fact that the UN hadn't reinstated the group of outlaws their Avenger status – merely exonerated them from their crimes. Heads would roll if Percy caught wind of that happening anytime soon. It was bad enough that they could get away scot free after breaking probably every law on earth and tearing the team apart while Tony suffered in silence. (It was horrifying to hear the genius' screams every night)

* * *

Tony rolled his eyes when he saw his phone, considering if it was worth the backlash of ignoring his phone now. He sighed and swiped the screen, "Yes dear?"

" _Tony what the hell do you think you're doing?"_

Tony rolled his eyes again, "I'm in a car, on the way back to the compound, what does it look like I'm doing?"

Rhodey's answer was a snarl in his ear.

"Pooh bear –"

" _No_." Rhodey hissed, " _What_ were you _thinking_ Tony?"

"I was _thinking_ that the world needs the Avengers more than they need Iron Man!" Tony shot back, his own humor evaporating.

"Tony…"

"No Rhodey, you don't get to shut me down. The world _needs_ the Avengers to defend them, not a man who can't even do anything right."

"God Tony," Rhodey sighed, "I don't even know what to say to that. It wasn't your fault –"

"Ultron." Tony said simply, remembering the look that Rhodey had given him when the murder bot had shut down the Tower.

On the other side of the line, Rhodey winced, knowing that his anger had gotten the better of him back then.

"Ultron was my fault." Tony continued, "And by extension, so was Sokovia. The Accords –"

"Was most _definitely_ not your fault Tony. Just because Rogers didn't know how to _listen_ , doesn't mean its your fault."

The two of them fell silent for several moments.

"What are you going to do Tony?" Rhodey asked tiredly, "If they're reinstated, you _know_ they'll come looking for you."

Tony stared out the window, contemplating silently, "I don't need anything to do with the Avengers. At best, I'll be a consultant. I'm focusing on SI now Rhodes. If anything, this is a selfish move because I don't want to deal with the aliens alone. And the aliens _will_ come."

Tony heard the low exhale of his best friend's breath and sighed himself, "I'm trying to fix things Rhodey, make them right."

"You shouldn't always have to pick up after them Tones."

Tony gave a half-hearted shrug and hung up, biting his finger nervously.

* * *

Percy found himself in the familiar hallways leading to the lab. Tony had shifted the entire thing to the ground floor in an effort to give Rhodey easier access to it. The teen entered the lab, knocking once on the glass door customarily.

"You know, the whole purpose of knocking is to wait for permission." Tony commented wryly, not looking up from where his attention was fixed on a set of prosthetics.

Percy rolled his eyes, leaning his hip against the table, "If we're going to do this, I need a job." He commented.

Tony frowned, looking up, "You already have a job." He pointed out.

"Being a secret agent doesn't really pay well these days."

Tony just kept staring at him, a confused look on his face.

Percy sighed, squaring his shoulders, "I made you a promise Tony, and if you're going to withdraw from the Avengers, I'm going with you."

Realization dawned on the genius, and Tony fought hard not to show how much that simple statement meant to him. He looked back at the prosthetics he was building for Rhodey, a small, genuine smile curling at the corner of his lips. "Well… With Happy no longer in commission… You can be my chauffeur!"

Percy's eyes grew wide with horror, "Oh Hades _no_! I take back what I said. I take everything back oh gods."

Tony cackled, "You can't take back your words kid, you're stuck with me now."

* * *

 **And that's a wrap for this section! I don't really like it to be honest, but well, I guess I need to set up stuff for the next installment. And yes, there is a next one.**

 **Honestly, this series is getting way out of hand. Anyway, this was kind of a filler chapter I suppose, so, do let me know your thoughts anyway! :)**

 **Please leave a review on your way out! :)**


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